Saving the Date: Should MLS Shift The Calendar? -

By Griffin Cappiello

In a recent press release, Major League Soccer (MLS) announced that the league’s Board of Governors authorized further exploration of changing the league’s schedule.

Currently, the MLS season runs from February to December, while the proposed changes would see the league match the international soccer calendar, which runs from August to June.

This announcement sparked fierce debate in the MLS social media sphere; the loudest voices seemed to be in favor of the proposed changes, though it appeared that a majority of fans online were either against or indifferent to the calendar shift.

@MLSMoves on X was among the loudest champions of the calendar change.

“Proponents of the move believe the league will be able to attract better talent and generate more revenue from player sales by aligning its transfer windows with the rest of the world,” read one post.

This is perhaps the strongest argument in favor of the proposed changes to the MLS calendar. While a majority of soccer leagues around the world conduct transfers during the primary transfer window in the summer, MLS’s primary window is in the winter, while its secondary window is in the summer, and vice versa.

As the schedule currently stands, foreign teams can be hesitant to sell players to MLS teams because these players would leave mid-season, making it difficult to find replacements. MLS often experiences the same phenomenon when selling players to foreign teams.

A shift in the calendar could give MLS more flexibility in terms of drawing foreign players to the league, and sending players abroad.

Some supporters of the calendar change mention other domestic sports leagues in competition to MLS. They specifically cite the MLS playoff schedule, which currently competes with NFL and college football in the fall, and argue that it would be more beneficial to compete with NBA and NHL playoffs in the spring instead.

Upon closer inspection, however, this argument seems faulty. Changing to an August to June season means that MLS would compete with the entirety of the NFL, NBA, and NHL seasons, as well as all of college football and basketball, including March Madness, and several other foreign soccer leagues.

As the schedule stands, the MLS season only overlaps with the entirety of the MLB season, and only parts of the season of other major sports leagues.

Changing the schedule to create more competition with other leagues would be disastrous for MLS; the league thrives off of in-person fan attendance, recently ranked second among soccer leagues around the world. If the MLS regular season had to compete with both the NFL and college football, it is highly unlikely that these attendance numbers would continue, leading to significant losses in revenue for the league.

Instead, the current schedule gives MLS a monopoly during the summer during the offseason for other major soccer leagues worldwide, giving the league the potential for more exposure in international markets.

Supporters of the calendar shift also cite the weather as a reason for change, suggesting that it would be better for teams in traditionally hotter markets to exchange home matches in June and July for matches in January and February.

This argument is the most absurd of them all; while the change might benefit the five teams in hotter markets, it entirely ignores the fact that fifteen teams — half of all the teams in the league — would find their home stadiums covered in snow during the winter months.

Suggestions to avoid playing games in freezing temperatures vary from insisting that cold market teams can play exclusively on the road during the winter to implementing a winter break in the middle of the season.

Half of the league having road trips lasting up to three months is a recipe for disaster, and still does not address the problem that these teams will not have access to their training facilities due to snow. Meanwhile, a midseason break lasting up to six weeks is essentially the same as the current schedule, with playoffs ending in December and preseason beginning in February.

The reality of the situation is that a majority of fans appear to be apathetic to the proposed changes. While there may be some benefits that would come about as a result of the calendar shift, there are just as many, if not more, drawbacks. Most fans, myself included, seem to have adopted a “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” mindset — leave the calendar alone and let the league continue its current pattern of growth.